It's All Greek to Me! Examining Ancient Greek Theater Architecture

Ancient Greece was a thriving Greek civilization that lasted from the archaic period to the end of the antiquity era. The ancient Greek culture was a technologically advanced civilization who laid the foundation for many of our modern day cultural traditions. One tradition that is still very prominent in our culture is theatre. The ancient Greek’s have been considered the pioneers of theatre, and are known to have introduced the first actor, the tragedy genre, and most impressively theatre architecture. The Greeks built massive amphitheatres to house thousands upon thousands of spectators for a theatrical performance; many of those ancient Greek amphitheatres are still in existence. The theater architectural designs of the ancient Greeks have been adapted and modified throughout the years by numerous other cultures. The Romans in particular are known to have been inspired by ancient Greek theater architecture and transformed it into a new and improved theater that met the needs of the changing and modernizing times of theatre. By examining ancient Greek architecture and acoustic technology, it will be examined how the architectural designs of ancient Greek theatre still has a prominent place in our modern day culture.

Theorists and scholars have often examined when the art of theatre first came into existence. There is a great amount of emphasis on the idea that the act of mimesis or an imitating impulse first came to be in a ritual setting dating way back to the beginning of mankind. However, the first civilization that shows evidence of a fully formed and functional theater is found during the ancient Greek civilization.

In Athens in 534 BCE the tyrant Pisistratus established an annual contest for tragedy as part of the pri...

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